Celadon establishes Caritas Partners Philanthropic Trading Division

Celadon Financial Group announced today that it has hired two veteran NYSE specialists, Richard C. Naso and Donnie Powell, to focus on serving public company clients that wish to repurchase their shares. Caritas (the Latin word for “Charity”) has adopted a unique business model that advances the social responsibility goals of public companies through its Buyback to Give Back program. Under this program, Caritas donates up to 40% of its brokerage commissions to qualified charities on the client’s behalf. The client selects the charities. The client also has the option of choosing how much to pay Caritas for execution services: the higher the commission, the greater the percentage of the commission that Caritas donates to charities on the client’s behalf. This model provides companies with a surplus flow of revenue to extend their involvement in the spectrum of social impact. Caritas also serves institutional investors, family offices, pension funds, and endowments.

Richard C. Naso, Managing Director. Mr. Naso is a Wall Street veteran and a member of the NYSE for more than 26 years. Mr. Naso executed the first program trade orders in the history of the NYSE, and was known as “Mr. IBM” for representing a large percentage of the company’s volume traded on a daily basis. In 1976, Mr. Naso formed Richard C. Naso Company. In 1983, he formed his second member firm, Floor Broker Network (now FBN Securities). Mr. Naso is well-known for his unique macroeconomic approach to investing, with extensive knowledge of strategic trading decisions.

Donald Powell, SVP. Mr. Powell began his career on the floor of the NYSE, where he spent 12 years as a specialist and designated market maker. During his tenure, he traded more than 75 percent of the listed equity securities for predominant specialist firms such as CMJ Partners, Bear Wagner and LaBranche & Co. Mr. Powell also served as head NYSE trader for American Depositary Receipts in the Latin America market. After leaving the NYSE, Mr. Powell carried his trading skills to ICAP, a leading markets operator and provider of post trade risk mitigation and information services. Prior to joining Celadon, Mr. Powell as a sales trader for leading institutional accounts at FBN Securities. Mr. Powell received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Oswego.